Report: West Virginia AD Oliver Luck No.1 target for Texas

West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck is the leading candidate to replace DeLoss Dodds as athletic director at Texas, according to a report on Monday from the Dallas Morning News.

An eight member committee advising UT president Bill Powers will start to interview candidates this week and Luck is the clear front runner for the spot.

“It is Oliver Luck’s job to lose,” said one industry source with knowledge of the Texas situation, indicating Luck could be hired by Dec. 1. “He’s No. 1 and No. 1A on their list. Then there’s everybody else.”

Another source with direct knowledge of the situation confirmed Luck’s favorite status but cautioned that the committee could go in a different direction depending on how the interviews progress.

Luck might be best known as the father of former Stanford and current Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. He was most recently named to the College Football Playoff selection committee.

His move to Texas would be an interesting one, as he might end up making some football firing and hiring decisions right off the bat.

A year under Dodds before you are free to do your own thing isn’t very appealing.

At least it seems that way to me.

thefiesty1 says:Oct 28, 2013 9:21 PM

Wasn’t he the AD at WVU during the Rich Rod debacle and subsequent hiring of Stewart (promotion from assistant) and now with Holgerson? Humm? A lot of changes at WVU in recent years. Bill Powers better think long and hard about the committee’s recommendation.

He would be a great hire for Texas. Dodds would move to a consulting role until August and new AD would take over from day 1. That is why it is happening now so new AD will hire new people if needed, and not let Dodds make decision.

If Dodds is there until august of 2014, why would Mack Brown be asked to leave after this season? Shouldn’t the new AD be the appropriate person to make the hire/fire decisions? Does Dodds have that big of an ego that he feels he could make a better hire at this point? What happens if the new AD doesn’t get along with the new HC? Texas may be best off keeping Coach Brown at least another year.

Oliver Luck will no doubt be the next AD at Texas and since UT is in a major position of financial strength at the head of the NCAA table, the business side of the job is a no brainer for him…..if you dont know his resume, here it is:

He has a JD from the UT Law School, one of the top law schools in the country.

Lived in Europe for over a decade with World League and then as President of NFL Europe for six years.

President of the Houston Sports Authority. Under his Presidency, he oversaw construction and financing of two of Houston’s new pro stadiums Reliant Stadium and the Toyota Center.

He was the President and CEO of the Houston Dynamo soccer club, was at the helm for two MLS soccer titles, and also oversaw the new soccer stadium, BBVA compass stadium.

He knows finance, and he knows how to manage big projects. with UT possibly looking to expand their football stadium in the future, and build a new basketball arena in the near future, he will be the best pick for the job, should he want to come back to Texas.

noaxetogrind says:Oct 28, 2013 10:09 PM

You are correct drummerhoff, so lets stick with some facts. He did the orchestrate the forced resignation of Bill Stewart in spite of his success at WVU. He did meet with Dana Holgerson during the middle of the season in a clandestine get together in Texas. Clearly an ethical lapse in the minds of most AD’s when they still have a coach in place. He hired DH who showed him his appreciation by getting tossed from a casino for public drunkeness within 3 weeks of taking the WVU job and oh by the way, have you checked how that hire is working out so far on the field? Speaking of ethics and Luck, he was reprimanded for unethical campaign tactics when he ran for Congress in 1990 and lost. Among the charges was the fact that he used private WVU donor lists to solicit campaign donations. Have at him Texas. I don’t imagine WVU put up too much of fight.

cometkazie says:Oct 28, 2013 10:47 PM

v2the4 says:
Oct 28, 2013 10:06 PM

he will be the best pick for the job, should he want to come back to Texas.
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Noaxe, OL brought WVU out of the dark ages and the man helped create one of the best QBs the football loving world has ever seen.

As for your facts. I don’t think anything you list is that big of a deal. And, you know what? Apparently, UT doesn’t either.

Regardless, what’s most interesting to me about this is OL is a proponent of expansion and views it as an inevitable event. That stands in stark contrast to UT’s actions over the last few years. Does hiring OL mean UTs brass is rethinking alignment? Very interest.

naw…DH, Dana Holgerson, stay right there in Morgantown….we want no parts of this Mike Leach “leach” in Austin, should Oliver Luck decide to come to UT and wants to bring DH in as the “coach in waiting”

hell to the nawl

inconsonance says:Oct 29, 2013 4:54 PM

@noaxetogrind – Bill Stewart was hardly a success as head coach. Win-loss records be damned, he was in way over his head. Examples:

* Piss poor clock management
* Abysmal recruiting
* Hiring Jeff Mullen, QB coach for Wake Forest, as OC, essentially as a favor to Jim Grobe.
* Allowing Mullen to dick around with the offense, switching the spread n’ shred that Pat White ran to perfection to something that could have been topped by the “Ask Corso” feature from any NCAA Football game.

Stewart might be dead, but that doesn’t mean he should get the benefit of revisionist history.